Method of winding thin filamentary materials

ABSTRACT

The invention includes a method of winding thin glass tubing or the like on a drum by blowing air against the end turn. This packs the turns tightly together. It has not heretofore been possible to do so because of the very thin and tenuous character of the tubing. The tubing is cut from the drum, laminated, bonded, and sliced perpendicular to the tubing axes. The result is a perforate wafer which may be used as a channel-type electron multiplier when a type of glass tubing is used which will produce a secondary emission ratio greater than unity from the interior surface of the tubing.

[451 Sept. 23, 1975 METHOD OF WINDING THIN FILAMENTARY MATERIALS [75] Inventor: Richard Danby Uncapher, San

Fernando, Calif.

[73] Assignee: International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York, NY.

22 Filed: Jan. 19, 1971 21 Appl.No.: 107,778

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,506,208 4/1970 Davy et al 242/18 R SOURCE LATHE Brushenko 242/158 R Nagao et a1 242/18 R Primary Examiner-Stanley N. Gilreath Attorney, Agent, or Firm.lohn T. OHalloran; Menotti J. Lombardi, Jr.; Edward Goldberg [57] ABSTRACT The invention includes a method of winding thin glass tubing or the like on a drum by blowing air against the end turn. This packs the turns tightly together. It has not heretofore been possible to do so because of the very thin and tenuous character of the tubing. The tubing is cut from the drum, laminated, bonded, and sliced perpendicular to the tubing axes. The result is a perforate water which may be used as a channel-type electron multiplier when a type of glass tubing is used which will produce a secondary emission ratio greater than unity from the interior surface of the tubing.

, 1 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures METHOD OF WINDING THIN FILAMENTARY MATERIALS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a process of winding a flexible member on a cylindrical drum and, more particularly, to a method of winding a filamentary fiber or the like.

In the past, it has been the practice to wind a stringlike material on a drum in the shape of a helix. Mechanical means are employed to pack the helix turns tightly together. However, it is often very difficult to pack the turns because they are easily broken by physical contact with a tool. This is especially true of very thin filamentary materials.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In accordance with the method of the present invention, the abovedescribed and other disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by training a blast of air onto the helix turns as they are being wound. Contact with a solid object and breakage of the turns is thus eliminated.

It is a feature of the method of the present invention that it may be used to make an extremely wide variety of products. For example, by winding certain glass tubing, cutting, laminating, and cutting again, as will be described, it is possible to make channel-type electron multipliers of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,327,151. The construction and operation of these devices is also explained in Review of Scientific Inslruments by G. W. Goodrich and W. C. Wiley, 1962, Vol. 33, page 761, and explained in Electronic Engineering by J. A. Adams and B. W. Manley, 1965, page 108M 181.

It is also a feature of the method of the present invention that devices made thereby as described herein may be used in fiber optics. For example, they may be used as face plates for transmitting an image from one plane to another.

A further feature of the invention is that devices made thereby may be employed as blood filters and as flow collimators.

The above-described and other advantages of the invention will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, which are to be regarded as merely illustrative:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an apparatus which may be employed to practice the method of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating another step of the method of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a set of glass tubes constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of laminated sheets of glass tubes; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a perforated wafer constructed in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In the drawings, in FIG. 1, a drum 10 is rotated by a lathe 11. Glass tubing 12 is fed onto drum 10. Drum 10 is moved axially to the right. and tube 12 is threaded onto drum 10 in a shape of a helix at 13. The air nozzle 14 directs a blast of air against tubing 12 approximately at its initial point of contact of drum 10. A source of air 15 supplies air to nozzle 14.

When helix 13 has been wound as shown in FIG. 2, a portion of each turn thereof is bonded to an adjacent portion by lacquer at 16. Alternatively, the turns may be fused together by heat. The helix 13 is then cut apart at 17 midway in the area of bonding at 16. The turns of the helix are then layed out straight on a flat surface as indicated at 18 in FIG. 3. The straightened turns are then bonded together by lacquer or fusing. Alternatively, the entire helix on drum 12 may be lacquered or fused.

Sheet 18 is then cut into sections. These sections may be 6 inches X 1 inch. The tubing holes may appear at the end of the sections having the 1 inch dimension. The pieces are then stacked together as shown in FIG. 4 or in FIG. 5 to form a block 6 inches X 1 inch X 1 inch with all the holes in the tubing being located on the external surface thereof having a dimension of 1 inch x 1 inch. The laminated body is then cut perpendicularly to the tube axes. However, the laminates are bonded together by lacquer or fusing before the transverse cut is made. After the transverse cut is made, the wafer may have the appearance shown at 19 in FIG. 6. However, the number of holes has been reduced; and the size of the holes has been increased substantially for clarity.

In accordance with the foreging, the use of the blast of air on drum 10 makes it possible to pack the turns of the helix tightly. This was not possible in the prior art where tools were used to pack the turns.

Note will be taken that the glass tubing 12 may have an outside diameter of 0.001 inch. This is about onethird of the thickness of a human hair. In the prior art, it was thus impossible to pack filamentary material because it would break.

In accordance with the foregoing, wafer 19 may be employed as a channel-type electron multiplier if appropriate glass is employed. Lead glass is often employed.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, as stated previously, wafer 19 may be used as a face plate or other device in the fiber optics field. If also may be employed as a blood filter or flow collimator.

The invention is also applicable to wind any filamentary material that is flexible. The filamentary material may be hollow tubing, solid tubing, braided cable. or otherwise. The invention is applicable to. but not limited to, the use of materials such as glass, fiberglass, and plastic.

In winding, the filamentary material may be moved and the air blast may be moved instead of the drum.

Many other changes or modifications of the invention will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art. The invention is, therefore, not to be limited to the embodiment selected for this disclosure, the true scope of the invention being defined only in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The method of packing fiber-like materials, said method comprising the steps of: winding a flexible filamentary material in a helix on a drum; and blowing the last turn being wound against the next turn adjacent 

1. The method of packing fiber-like materials, said method comprising the steps of: winding a flexible filamentary material in a helix on a drum; and blowing the last turn being wound against the next turn adjacent thereto. 